


What's Underneath

by KillJoy998



Category: X-Men First Class - Fandom
Genre: F/M, It's the 60's, The CIA men are the enemies, implied racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 19:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7945699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillJoy998/pseuds/KillJoy998
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After exposing mutant kind to the CIA, after meeting Hank and collating other mutants just like herself and her brother to team up and take down Shaw due to Erik’s wishes, Raven let a lot of issues plague her mind.</p>
<p>((Or, the CIA men are assholes and Raven saves Darwin from racist bigotry))</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Underneath

**Author's Note:**

> I know that I am literally one of two people who even ships Darwin and Raven together, but I just really love the pairing, and I think they'd be so cute. And this little ficlet stemmed from the idea of Raven and Darwin having the same problem, yet Raven can hide and look like everyone else, but Darwin can't.   
> I don't know if anybody will stop by here, but if you do, hope you enjoy :)

Raven couldn’t help but stare at her reflection in the mirror for longer in the mornings. It was just something that had been developing internally that had always been an issue to her since she was a little girl. Her appearance. The fact that the real ‘her’ was not a reflection of whom she wanted herself to be, but it was a true self image that she wanted to represent. She was a _girl._ She _wanted_ to be beautiful. That’s all she wanted. Or at least attractive. She wanted people to look at her and think, ‘hey, what a pretty girl’, and then happily move on with their lives. Living her life in disguise, she _did_ usually get that reaction whenever she walked down the streets arm in arm with her brother, but it wasn’t the real her. Not her blue skinned self. It was Charles who made her grow more self conscious in herself. He pressured her into hiding even when he preached that mutants should always have faith in themselves and be proud of who they are—it always made her doubt her self worth even around those who she had hoped held her dearly to their hearts. She wanted Charles to be proud of her, she wanted to be proud of herself, but alas, that was not to be.

 

Life went on, and she let it.

 

\---

 

It did not take long for things to change.

 

After exposing mutant kind to the CIA, after meeting Hank and collating other mutants just like herself and her brother to team up and take down Shaw due to Erik’s wishes, Raven let a lot of issues plague her mind.

 

For one thing, she now had _friends_. The mutants that she had met today... They were all like her, but different, in the best kind of ways. There was the brilliant Hank, a genius at such a young age, and she was in awe of his mind and his worth. There was Angel, a potential new best friend; she hadn’t spent time with a girl around her age in a long time, and she felt like she could already connect with Angel, though their experiences were kind of different. There was Alex, who was a bit of an asshole, a tough exterior trying to mask up inner turmoil with a bad boy attitude, but he wasn’t that bad. Sean was a cool guy too, a little cutie, always going in for quick mockery and a goofy joke. And then there was Darwin, and she had to say she looked up to him a little; he was older, more mature, but absolutely lovely and she couldn’t fault him. She had to admit she was surprised that he was allowed to join the programme. She knew that Charles, and obviously this Erik, didn’t believe that any physical attributes should take away the soul and heart of a person, but she doubted that these racist, bigoted CIA men would feel the same.

 

And on the same day they all collated, she was proven right. 

 

\---

 

Darwin had offered to excuse himself to grab them all a quick refill for all of their drinks, though Alex declined as he swung a swig of his cola bottle, and Raven had needed to dismiss herself to run to the lady’s room to relieve herself at the same time. She walked casually down the corridor as she smoothed down her dress, only stopping at the corner of the wall as she heard bitter voices fill her ears. Carefully pressing against the wall, Raven moved her head so she could get a view of what was unfolding.

 

The CIA men were blocking Darwin’s path, and she heard Darwin ask if he could get by in such a polite voice, as if anyone could stay lovely and polite in front of pigs such as those. She waited until she got an eyeful of one of the burly men push Darwin back a few steps, and she refrained from gasping as it would have given her presence away, but she couldn’t just _watch_ as these men disrespected someone so nice and calm.

 

“Hey, hey, hey, Mick,” the other man reprimanded, almost tutting at the way his friend had given in to his aggressive urges.

 

“What? Dave, this mutt ain’t got no right to be in our—“

 

Dave quickly cut him off, “I know, Mick, I know, but there are cameras about, and this one’s part of the mutant programme. He’s special. We’re lookin’ after him and his gang.”

 

“Mutant programme? Oh fucking great, he’s one of those too,” Mick spat, eying Darwin up in disgust as the poor man tried to walk by them again, and Raven felt something cold run up her spine as the the man—‘Mick’—pulled out his baton and raised it up at him.

 

As if  _anyone_ can raise a God damn  _weapon_ against him.

 

“Stop!” Raven shrieked, running out of her spot.

 

She watched with almost frightened eyes as all three men turned to look at her, and she saw three different expressions. Mick wore an expression of sudden lust and greed, Dave looked like a deer caught in headlights as if he had just gotten busted and was about to lose his job, and Darwin... She didn’t know if Darwin was relieved, concerned, or felt guilty... Either way, she didn’t really like those options. Darwin had nothing to be guilty about. Raven was damn well aware of that.

 

She stood her ground even as Dave took a step towards her, merely because she was still focused on if Mick was going to swing the weapon he still had a grasp of. Darwin, however, didn’t like the movement.

 

“Don’t get any closer to her,” Darwin warned through gritted teeth, though he was instantly backed up against the wall by Mick.

 

Raven almost started to shake as Dave still stalked closer to her, not heeding the warning, and Darwin just let himself be cornered.

 

“Look here, little missy, I suggest you run back to your little circus and pretend you didn’t see nothing,” Dave drawled, his fixture standing right above her.

 

Mick snorted immediately, almost in distaste, and he socked Darwin once before he pushed his mate out of the way. It was a way to replace Dave as Mick stood sturdy in front of Raven.

 

“Don’t be so hasty,” Mick smirked, “We could have all sorts of fun with this one.”

 

“Oh no you won’t,” Darwin defended, but then events flashed in Raven’s eyes in a flurry.

 

Both CIA men had caught hold of Darwin and though he managed to shake one of them off with a quick punch and a dodge, Mick had caught Darwin’s arm and smacked down his baton—instantly, as the baton made its mid swing, right before it was ready to snap into Darwin’s flesh, Raven acted. With one kick to Mick’s crotch, Raven was blue and ready.

 

The baton was instantly dropped and then silence rippled through the air, only the echo of the baton’s fall remaining quietly as a ringing in everyone’s ears.

 

All three men were yet again staring at her, and three new expressions replaced the old ones. Mick looked absolutely downright disgusted with the display Raven was putting on, Dave’s eyes looked as if they were going to bulge out of his head (probably in fear and shock), but Darwin looked at her with a fond expression, and one... One with pride. Darwin was gazing at her with pride.

 

She glowered down at the two scumbags until they scrambled to their senses and raced themselves out of the corridor space they were currently  occupying, and she couldn’t help but hear the word ‘freak’ tumble out of both of their mouths as they ran away.

 

Raven looked down at herself for a moment, a small frown curled on her lips. She waited a few seconds before she turned her head to regard Darwin yet again, mainly because she hadn’t heard him speak up since the men had left. Darwin had tried to protect her. Darwin had defended her. And Darwin was prepared to fight for her.

 

She tried not to dwell on that too much as Darwin kind of continued to stare, yet he looked bashful, and she couldn’t place why.

 

“What?” she questioned, glancing around herself, until he smiled at her and she finally clicked on.

 

Darwin looked away and rubbed the back of his neck, “Heh, sorry. I just wasn’t aware that pretty women got naked on the first meeting.”

 

Raven’s cheeks decided to choose that moment to flame up in embarrassment as she realized that yeah, she was naked, though a choked giggle escaped her lips as she glanced her own head away, clothing herself before anyone else walked down the corridor. That was it. They were back to normal.

 

“Hey, c’mon, let’s get back to the guys,” Darwin suggested, clapping her on the shoulder in a manly way that wasn’t actually as awkward as it possibly should have been.

 

She nodded limply before she followed Darwin down the corridor once again, back the way they came, and she apparently had forgotten her earlier need to urinate as they walked in shame of having no beverages to represent to the guys.

 

“Hey, Darwin?” she spoke up softly, and when Darwin turned his head, she continued, “You shouldn’t believe what anyone says about... Y’know. We’re all the same underneath. And you’re better than them. You’re a better man.”

 

She cleared her throat as he just gazed at her, and she summed up enough courage to bite her lip shyly before she gently placed a kiss to his cheek. She lingered for a moment before giving him a bright smile. She walked the rest of the way herself until she sat down beside Angel and was easily included back into the languid conversations. She started to worry about Darwin having not followed her, but it didn’t take long before he showed himself, and when he brought a tray of more drinks, she smiled to herself and knew why.


End file.
